Attributed to Bernardo Bitti (Camerino, Italy,... Lot 35

Attributed to Bernardo Bitti (Camerino, Italy, 1548 - Lima, 1610) "Saint Mark" and "Saint Luke" Pair of magnificent carved, gilded and polychromed reliefs. Colonial School. Viceroyalty of Peru. 16th century. 82 x 94 cm. each. Bitti, a Jesuit priest, was the first mannerist painter to arrive to the Viceroyalty of Peru, in 1575, and he worked in Jesuit churches in Lima, Cuzco and Upper Peru, bringing the art of European painting and sculpture to the hands of indigenous artists and supporting the formation of the first painting and sculpture workshops. These are comparable, in our opinion, to the marvellous “Saint Ignatius of Antioch,” painted by Bernardo Bitti circa 1585, and which possibly came from the first main altarpiece at the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús (Church of the Society of Jesus) in Cuzco, it can currently be found at the Lima Art Museum.